Station-indicator.



f'PATBNTED'oCTQzo, 1903.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ng... .mmwwwr... .han I A TORNE :M m. .Q @N um. I r1. Ii 1 I lll lllllllll llll... L. l I I l l l l I l l l I l l l l l l 1 I l l Y l l l I lll-111|'. .1...

No. 741,651."` :Io MODEL.

lII0..f/'4I,65I.. l PATEIITED QGT.20,1903.-

P. P. I. FYFE. STATION INDICATOR. APPLmATIoN FILED JAN. so, 1903. No MODEL. l s SHEETS-SHEET A TIO-HNE Ys.

` UNITED STATES raten/ted october 2o, 1905s.

'Pnfrmar OFFICE.

PAUL PHILIA ICAVILLE FYFE, OF CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO STANDARD RIGHT COMPANY, OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA..

SPECIFICATION forming` part of Letters Patent No. 741,651, dated October 20, 1903.

Application led January 30, 1908. Serial No. lllLMl. (No model.)

My invention relates to station-indicators, Y

and particularly to an improvement upon the construction shown in the patents granted to me August 27, 1901, and numbered, respectively, 681,539 and 681,540.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a simple, durable, and economic construction whereby the names of the stations or streets, with or without advertising matter, will be displayed at each end of the carfrom the center, for example, in direction of each endwhen the'proper time arrives for such display and to provide such mechanism that a series of rollers having curtains attached bearing the names of thel stationswill be automatically operated, in such'a way that one roller will be turned to windup the material carried byit while'the next'lroller will be turned in' direction to drop its attached curtain and whereby automatically the operating means will travel from one pair of tional end view of a car and afront sectional view of the improvement, the section being taken practically on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the construction of the master-gear and its relation to a spindle of one of the rollers, the section being taken substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 5. Fig. 4..,is a plan view of the 5o mechanism for actuating the rollers, and Fig.

Cin a quarter of its circle.

ing mechanism.

A represents a street-car of anyv approved type, and at the central portion of one side -of the car an eXteriorly-located perpendicular shaft B is provided, mounted to turnin suitable bearings 10, the upper end of which shaft extends beneath the side extension of the roof of the car. end is'provided with a bevel-gear 11, which is shown meshing with, a second bevel-gear 12, secured upon a transverse shaft 13, lo

cated beneath the car, and this shaft 13 is.

driven in any suitable or approved manner from the wheels or axles of the car-trucks.

At the upper end of the shaft B, which may be termed a driving-shaft, a wheel C is secured.A (Shown best'in Figs. Atand 5.) wheel C is provided with quadrantal teeth 14.,- or teeth which are arranged on the said wheel The teeth 14 are in two series and each series includes an upper and a lower set of teeth, the upper teeth' approaching the end sections of the lower set of teeth, so that in each set of teeth one is above the plane of the other.

At one side of the car, beneath the side projecting portion of the roof, two sets of shafts 15 and 16 are located, one above the other,

:and these shafts extend from thewheel C in direction of each endof the car.

The shaft 15 is above the shaft 16, and the said shafts are journaled at their outer ends in suitable bearings, which may be attached to or constitute portions of the vertical rails at the ends of the platform of the car, as is alsov shown in Fig. 1, and at their linner ends the shafts 15 and 16 are journaled in suitable bearings 17.y 18, which are properly attachedto the outer side of the car-body adjacent to the roof. with spiral grooves 19, exteriorly produced, as Yis shown in Fig. 5, and at the innerend of each lower` grooved shaft'l a wheel 20 is secured, provided with teeth 21, adapted to be engaged by the lower set of teeth 14. on the wheel C.

Guide rails or tracks22 are properly sup ported beneath the lower grooved shafts 16, andthe lower Tshaped shanks 23 of car- 5 is a sectional side elevation of the actuat# The lower shafts 16 areprovidedv This shaft B at its lower v This IOO

riages D extend through longitudinal slots in the said rails 22, as is shown in Fig. 2. The upper portion of said carriages D is bifur* cated, as is best shown in Fig. 5, and each member of a carriage terminates in a head 26, which heads are apertured in order that the upper portion of each carriage may freely slide upon the upper shaft 15, as is also shown in Fig. 4E. The base portion of each carriage is likewise apertured, so that the lower shafts 16 may pass through said portions, and pins or projections 24: are located at the apertured base portion of each carriage v to enter the spiral grooves 19 of the shafts 16.

A master-wheel 27 is held to turn between the upper members of each carriage D. This master wheel is provided with a feather which enters a longitudinal slot 28 in the upper shafts 15, upon which the said masterwheels are mounted. Each master-wheel 27 is a double-faced bevel-wheel Vor each masterwheel may be termed a double-faced bevelgear. Thus it will be observed that each carriage is operated by the movement of the lower shafts l6,which movements are brought about by the engagement of the toothed wheels 2O with the quadrantal teeth 14 of the wheel C on the drive-shaft B and that the said carriages D have sliding movement on both of the shafts 15 and 1G, which pass through them.

At the inner end of each shaft 15 a wheel 29 is secured, and these wheels have teeth 30 extending out therefrom. The teeth 30 ot' the said wheels 29 are adapted to mesh with the upper quadrantally-arranged teeth 14 of the upper wheel C on the drive-shaft B, so that in the operation of the shaft B the'lower shafts 16 are turned first, for example, and then the upper shafts 15 shortly afterward.

Each master-wheel 27 is provided with a recess 3l, as is shown in Fig. 3, and these recesses 3l in the said master-wheels 27 are made in order that as the master-wheels slide upon their sustaining shafts and tracks the said master-wheels may pass by bevel-gears 35, which are secured upon the outer ends of spindles 35a, and said spindles are attached to rollers 32, upon which rollers drop-curtains 33 are secured, adapted to have produced thereon the names of stations or streets and advertising matter, if found desirable. These rollers are prevented from being shaken from desired position while the car is in motion, through the medium of springs 34, (shown in Fig. 4,) which springs are so wound upon the spindles 35 and have such bearing against a near-by support and flanges at the pinioncarrying en d of the rollers as to hold said rollers in fixed position until said rollers are purposely turned by means of the doublefaced gear-wheels 27 engaging with the pinions 35.

The rollers 32 are arranged in two series, one series extending from a point near the center of the car to and beneath the hood at one end, the other series of rollers 32 being correspondingly placed with relation to the opposite end of the car. The rollers 32 are so placed that the pinions 35, carried by their spindles 35a, will bear such close relation to each other that when a master-gear engages with a pinion 35 of one roller 32 it will like- Wise engage with the pinion 35 of the adjacent roller, one roller turning in one direction and the other roller in the opposite direction. Thus it will be observed that at each operation of a master-wheel 27 the curtain on one roller is Wound up, while the curtain upon the next roller will be unwound or dropped, so that it will be visible to the occupants of the car.

only over the platforms of the car, and in order that the matter printed upon a curtain dropped from beneath the hood of a car may be clearly visible to the occupant lof a car I preferably provide transparent panels 36 at the upper portion of the ends ofthe car, as is illustrated in Fig. 2, and when such panels are used persons standing on the platform of a car will be able to read the matter upon the curtains dropped in the interior of the car.

It will be understood that the spindles 35 of the rollers 32 are suitably journaled at each of their ends.

In the operation of the device the outer or first curtain is dropped, all the other curtains being wound up upon the rollers 32, as is shown in Fig. 1. At proper times the car riages D will be moved in direction of the center of the car by the revolution of the grooved shafts 16, and when the carriages are so moved the recesses 31 in the masterwheels will be opposite the pinions 35 of the rollers 32, so that the master-wheels may pass said pinions. The extent of the movement of a xnasterwheel at each operation of the shafts 16 is the extent of the distance between adjoining pinions 35, so that in the first movement of the master- Wheels the said wheels will be brought into the space between the pinions 35 of the outer rollers 32 and the rollers next to them. Shortly after the master-wheels are thus moved the shafts 15 are actuated and the master-wheels are vturned sutciently to impart rotary motion to the pinions 35, with which they engage,

turning the outer roller in a direction to wind up the curtain thereon and the next roller in a direction to cause its curtain to drop down therefrom. After another period of time the master-Wheels are moved farther in direction of the center of the car, engaging with the pinions of the second outer rollers and the third outer rollers, causing the master-wheels when the shafts 15 are again revolved to wind up the curtains on the second outer rollers and cause the curtains on the third outer rollers to drop downward. This operation is repeated until all of the rollers 32 have been operated upon. At such time the movement of the drive-shaft B is reversed and the rol1- ers 32 are operated upon from the center of If desired, the rollers 32 may be arranged I ICO the car or from the innermost roller of each set in direction of the outermost'roller.

Having thus described my invention, I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a station-indicator, a series of rollers, curtains carried thereby and adapted to drop therefrom, and a mechanism for simultaneously winding up the curtain on one roller and unwinding the curtain of the adjacent roller..

42. In a station-indicator, a series of rollers, curtains carried by the said rollers and adapted to drop therefrom, pinions carried by the rollers, a master-gear having a double face and adapted to engage simultaneously with said adjacent pinions, the said roller being provided with means for clearing the pinions in its passage from one to the other, and means substantially as described, for imparting periodical lateral and rotary movement to the said master-wheel, as set forth.

3. In a station-indicator, a series of rollers, pinions attached to the said rollers, lcurtains secured to the rollers and adapted to drop downward therefrom, a drive-shaft, an upper and a lower line-shaft, .the lower line-shaft having a spiral groove and the upper lineshaft a longitudinal groove therein, means for periodically rotating the line-shafts from the drive-shaft, a carriage in operative engagelnent with the grooved shaft, whereby the said carriage is slid along the said shaft as the shaft revolves, and a master-wheel guided by the carriage and having an extension into the groove of the upper line-shaft, which master-wheel'is adapted to engage simultaneously with the pinions of two adjacent rollers, as described.

4. In a station-indicator, a seriesof rollers, pinions attached to the said rollers, curtains secured to the rollers and adapted to drop downward therefrom, a drive-shaft, an upper and a lower line-shaft, the lower line-shaft having a spiral groove and the upper lineshaft a longitudinal groove therein, means for rotating the line-shafts from the driveshaft, 'a carriage in operative engagement with the grooved shaft, whereby the said carriage is slid along the said shaft as the shaft revolves, and a master-wheel. guided by the carriage into the groove of the upper lineshaft, which master-wheel' is adapted to engage simultaneously with the pinions of two adjacent rollers, the said master-wheel being provided with a recess in its peripheral portion, suli'iciently large to pass the pinions of the said rollers, and tension devices for the rollers, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a station-indicator, the combination with a series of rollers, curtains adapted to drop from the said rollers, a pinion at one end of each roller, a drive-shaft, and a wheel carried bythe said drive-shaft, provided t with quadrantal teeth arranged in pairs, one set of teeth being above the plane of the other, of an upper and alowerline-shaft, the

upper line-shaft being provided with a longitudinal groove and the lower line-shaft with a spiral groove, a carriage mounted to slide upon both line-shafts and provided with a projection adapted to enter the spiral groove of the lower line-shaft, a master-wheel guided 'by the said carriage and mounted on the upquadrantal teeth arranged in pairs, one set of teeth being above the plane of the other, of an upper and alowerline-shaft, the upper line-shaft being provided with a longitudinal groove and the lower line-shaft with a spiral groove, a carriage mounted to slide upon both line-shafts and provided with a projection adapted to enter the spiral groove of the lower line-shaft, a master-wheel guided by the said carriage and mounted on the upper line-shaft, having a feather entering the 1ongitudinal groove of the said upper linefshaft, the saidV pinion having a double beveled toothed surface adapted to simultaneously engage with two opposing pinions on the said rollers, the said master-wheel being also provided with a peripheral recess of sufficient size to freely receive a .pinion of a roller, a

4guide for the lower end of the said carriage,

and tension devices for the said rollers, all arranged for operation substantially as'described.

In testimony whereof I have signed myv name to this speciiication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PAUL PHILIA. ICAVILLEw FYFE. Witnesses:

THOMAS S. SHIRM, D. C. DAYwAL'r. 

